Strippers settle wage lawsuit against club

A San Antonio strip club that lost a trial that resulted in a $250,000 judgment for two ex-strippers has agreed to settle a separate lawsuit involving other dancers.

Terms of the deal were kept confidential, but the settlement comes three months after U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad ruled that half of the 45 strippers who sought to join the class-action lawsuit against Tiffany’s Cabaret can’t be part of the court action because they signed arbitration agreements.

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The judge allowed the rest to remain in the lawsuit, and the decision kept alive claims that Tiffany’s shorted other dancers of minimum wage and overtime pay.

Tiffany’s made employees sign the arbitration agreements shortly after it was previously sued by two dancers in another case, court records show. The strategy appears to have worked, as Tiffany’s lawyers convinced Bemporad that 22 dancers who signed the agreements can’t pursue wage claims in court.

But Tiffany’s was unable to convince Bemporad to toss out the whole lawsuit. His ruling was a recommendation to U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, who was informed last week that the parties had reached a confidential settlement.

Garcia on Monday signed an order approving the deal. In court papers, Tiffany’s maintains that it did nothing wrong.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers — Martin Shellist, Robert Debes and Rick Prieto, all of Houston — were not available for comment.

In March, in a separate but similar lawsuit brought by the same lawyers, a federal jury decided that Tiffany’s shorted two dancers out of minimum wages and awarded them $125,000. Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth doubled the award to $250,000 after finding that Tiffany’s did not act in good faith.

In August, Lamberth ordered Tiffany’s to pay an additional $162,197 in attorney’s fees and costs.